EUROsociAL and the OECD present best practices in Taxpayer Education at the Meeting of the Task Force on Tax and Development
EUROsociAL and the OECD presented the publication “Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship”
The event took place within the framework of the 5th Meeting of the Task Force on Tax and Development, which brought together tax administrations from all over the world, international bodies, business leaders, DNGOs.
Many countries are at a crucial point in their path towards sustainable development, the fight against poverty, reduction of inequalities, and the delivery of quality public services. The global economic crisis has slowed down the pace of growth, reducing the availability of funds. In this new context, governments are struggling to mobilise resources and increasingly seeking to engage today's and tomorrow's taxpayers to a greater degree. In many places, innovative taxpayer education techniques are emerging to build a greater culture of tax compliance.
On 2nd November, within the framework of the 5th Plenary Meeting of the Task Force on Tax and Development of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, the book “Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship” was launched. The publication was prepared jointly by the OECD and EUROsociAL. The publication brings together taxpayer education experiences from Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Baltic region. Most, though not all, of the cases discussed are from developing or emerging countries. The result is a source book of good practices with ideas that can be adapted to different contexts. EUROsociAL coordinated the inclusion of the experiences of Brazil, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Chile, and Mexico.
The presentation of the work was led by Grace Pérez-Navarro, Deputy-Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration of the OCDE, and Borja Díaz Rivillas, Senior Expert of the Public Finance and Democratic Governance Unit of EUROsociAL in FIIAPP. It was followed by an analysis of outstanding cases from El Salvador and Brazil, the Taxpayer Education Network, and South Africa, and a screening of the video Tax Education and Social Cohesion.
The experience of El Salvador focused on the partnership between the country's finance and education ministries, and was led by Erlinda Handal, Deputy Minister for Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, and Miguel Angel Pacas, Tax Auditor of the Directorate-General of Internal Revenue. On the part of Brazil and representing the Receita Federal, Clovis Peres participated by describing the experiences of the Accounting and Tax Support Centres (NAF). Margarita Faral, Advisor to Uruguay's Directorate-General of Taxes, presented the Euro-Latin American Taxpayer Education Network and the partnership with the Ceibal Plan. Johan Fourie, Manager of International Relations of the South African Revenue Service, discussed the experience of his country with facilitating voluntary compliance through mobile tax units.
The presentation was attended by over 100 people representing tax administrations from all over the world, international bodies, business leaders, NGOs, and OECD experts. The final declaration of the 5th Meeting of the Task Force on Tax and Development highlighted the importance of the book and of the theme for development policies, and welcomed the creation of the Euro-Latin American Taxpayer Education Network by EUROsociAL (educacionfiscal.org).
FIIAPP
